Hub takes control of phone system

John Dalton, the GM of Hotel Ignacio in St. Louis, is on top of the next wave of the future.

The 51-room boutique property opened in April, and Dalton is all about the cutting edge and green efforts. At the most basic level this means the property-management system and booking engines all have smart technology, including a mobile version of the site. 

“But the granddaddy of it all is the Avaya media hub,” Dalton said.

The Avaya hub takes control of Hotel Ignacio’s phone system.

“I just started to realize that phones are phones are phones,” Dalton said. “There was nothing interesting until I stumbled across Avaya.”

The Avaya system resembles an oversized iPhone in each room. It has touchscreens and apps, all of which look great, but for Dalton that was not enough.

“It needed to do things as well,” he said. “It gives stock and weather quotes, restaurant listings, video tours and attractions, museums and more.”

Yes, all of this is cutting edge, but anyone with a smartphone can perform the same functions on his or her own. What makes Avaya different?

“You are not really connecting to the Internet on our media hub,” Dalton said. “You are going to an intranet and we are controlling the content.”

Dalton and his team control the quality of content that they feel their guests are looking for.

“We give you an honest opinion on what we think about each place and how the guest can best be served,” Dalton said. “I will give you a quality recommendation, which is just a mile away. I am on hand to make sure the things I am putting out are a really good match.”

Guests also have the ability to put in requests for frequently used items, such as towels and soap.

“This was a real turn-on for me,” Dalton said. “We are giving a level of concierge service not usually seen in a 51-room hotel, especially in the Midwest.”

There are only six Avaya systems in existence in the world; this is the only one in North America.

Dalton believes that there is a definite return on his investment.

“We don’t create in-room collateral on paper. There is a savings in that,” he said. “We have control over the content so that we can change it up to the minute. We are creating a comfort level that is hard to put a price on.”